Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) was a far-left Armenian guerrilla organization that operated from 1975 to 1988. The group was founded in Beirut, Lebanon in 1975 by Hagop Hagopian, James Karnusian, and Kevork Ajemian, and it had the goal of avenging the Armenian Genocide through a series of terrorist attacks against Turkey, especially on diplomats and their families. ASALA killed 46 people and injured 299 in a series of terrorist attacks during the late 1970s and for much of the 1980s, and it stated that the goal of its attacks were to force Turkey to acknowledge the genocide, pay reparations, and cede lands in "Wilsonian Armenia" to give the Armenians their own homeland. The group was supported by many in the Armenian diaspora, but it became inactive as the result of splits within the organization during the 1980s and 1990s after Hagopian's assassination. The group was responsible for the 1981 attack on the Turkish consulate in Paris, France, the 1982 Esenboga International Airport attack, and an attack on Orly Airport in Paris in 1983, among many others.